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in: Comics, Astonishing Spider-Man Vol 1, Week 30, 1998,
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Astonishing Spider-Man Vol 1 36

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Appearing in "Of Wages and Wars"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Amazing Spider-Man #409

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Synopsis for "Of Wages and Wars"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Amazing Spider-Man #409

The Return of Kaine continues from Sensational Spider-Man #2...

Ben Reilly examines the remains of a skeleton in a Spider-Man costume that was found in the smokestack that Spider-Man seemingly disposed of his clone five years ago. This greatly complicates what is going on in his life. For five years, Ben thought he was a clone of Peter Parker. It was later revealed that he was the original Peter Parker all along and that his clone had taken over his life. The discovery of a third body throws all past claims into question.[Continuity 1] He thinks about how the real clone, took over his life as Peter Parker, married his old girlfriend Mary Jane, and are expecting their first child.[Continuity 2] The only friend he had during this period of time was Seward Trainer, who is no help to him now as he has been in a coma since his mind was trapped in cyberspace.[Continuity 3] Putting the bones away and changing into Spider-Man, Ben also recounts the return of Kaine and his recent battle with the Rhino. He doesn't know why the two were fighting but intends to put them behind bars.

Meanwhile, James Johnsmeyer has a conference call with other backers of the Great Game. The other backers are concerned about the involvement of Spider-Man and Kaine in the current wager. They want to know if they should cancel the current wager or factor the new elements into the bet. James tells them not to be hasty and insists that they incorporate the two outsiders into their current game and begins asking for wagers. While at a warehouse on the Lower East Side, Kaine and Shannon Fitzpatrick -- the woman known as Muse -- have been laying low after Kaine's battle with the Rhino. She insists that Kaine use this opportunity to rest and heal, pointing out that Johnsmeyer is a man of many resources and won't like Kaine's lack of interest in participating in the game. When Kaine questions Shannon's trustworthiness, she reminds him that she put her own career into jeopardy in helping him out.[Continuity 4] Their discussion is interrupted when the Rhino comes bursting through the wall intent on eliminating Kaine. While at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson is with his senior staff. After seeing Spider-Man stealing the mysterious corpse in a Spider-Man costume, he has jumped to the conclusion that the original Spider-Man was murdered by this new comer. While Ken Ellis is eager to roll with this narrative, Urich isn't sure they should jump to a conclusion, pointing out that Spider-Man has changed his costume in the past.[Continuity 5] Joe Robertson cautions Jonah about going with this angle until Urich and Ellis learn the facts. Jameson points out that the Daily Bugle reports facts, not the truth and that truth is in the eye of the beholder. Elsewhere in the city, Spider-Man continues his search for Kaine and the Rhino and comes up with nothing. He decides to change his strategy by hitching a ride on a nearby news helicopter figuring they'll take him to the villains faster when they show themselves.

Back on the Lower East Side, Kaine continues to battle with the Rhino, a battle that becomes more complicated when Joystick and Polestar joins the fray. Kaine quickly finds himself overwhelmed and begins losing the battle. That's when Muse tries to join the fight and use her powers to incapacitate the other members of the Great Game. Sadly, this fails when Joystike manages to ambush her. This distracts Kaine, allowing the Rhino to finally land a blow. That's when Spider-Man arrives on the scene to lend a hand, despite Kaine's insistence that he doesn't need help. While Spider-Man deals with Joystick and Polestar, Kaine tries to get to Muse only to be impeded by the Rhino. While at a hospital, a nurse checks on Seward Trainer who is still in a coma. He is visited by his daughter Carolyn. Unaware that Carolyn is also the new Doctor Octopus she decides to give Trainer some privacy with his daughter. Carolyn thanks the nurse, ominously telling her that she doesn't how much time her father has left. While back at the scene of the battle, the Rhino's confidence begins to waver when Kaine uses his rarely used wall-crawling ability to rip a large section of a building and uses it to club the Rhino into submission. Shannon has recovered by this point and tells him that he doesn't need to kill the Rhino as he has already won by scoring first blood in this game. Kaine is disgusted that they treat violence so frivolously, telling her that it is all he has known his entire life. Meanwhile, Spider-Man manages to stop Joystick by crushing the wrist bands that power her weapons. She congratulates the wall-crawler for finding this weakness as she flees, vowing he won't be lucky next time they meet. Before Spider-Man can go after her, he is ambushed by Polestar. However, Polestar is too busy complaining over how unfair the battle has become that Spider-Man is able to knock him out as well. However, once the members of the Great Game is down, he is angry that they prevented him from catching Kaine.

Later, while Kaine is off looking for refuge, Shannon contacts James Johnsmeyer. Kaine's suspicions prove to be valid as she is working with Johnsmeyer to ensure large profits before Kaine is destroyed. While back on the Lower East Side, Spider-Man waits until the authorities arrive to collect Rhino and Polestar. With the two villains in police custody, Spider-Man resumes his search for Kaine. He is certain that he'll track his old enemy down, as he managed to tag Muse with a spider-tracer during the battle.

... The Return of Kaine continues in Spider-Man #66.

Appearing in "End Game"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Spider-Man #66

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Synopsis for "End Game"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Spider-Man #66

This story continues from Amazing Spider-Man #409...

Spider-Man uses the spider-tracer he planted on Muse in order to track her and Kaine down after their recent clash with members of the Great Game. The wall-crawler insists on turning Kaine over to the police, who are now surrounding the alley they are in. However, Kaine has no intentions of being incarcerated and uses his wall-clinging abilities to bring one of the alley walls down, separating Spider-Man from his foes. While Kaine and Muse easily force their way out of one side of the alley, on the other, Spider-Man has to deal with officers who want to arrest him for stealing a skeleton out of the city morgue.[Continuity 6] Upon making their escape, a police officer tries to shoot Muse, but Kaine takes the bullet for her. Still, the couple getaway, and Kaine realizes that he is starting to develop feelings for Muse. This causes him to remember his last lover, Louise Kennedy. However, he also remembers how Louise betrayed him and he killed her as a result.[Continuity 7] By this point, Kaine has decided that he is fed up of being manipulated by the Great Game and tells Muse to lead him to their headquarters so he and shut them down personally.

This headquarters happens to be the corporate headquarters owned by James Johnsmeyer, who at that moment is on a conference call with other bidders in the game. While at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson has called in Joe Robertson, Ben Urich, Angela Yin, and Ken Ellis. He wants to know what they have on the stolen skeleton story. When they all respond with silence, Jonah chews them out and sends them out of his office. He decides to call someone who can get to the bottom of this story. After he places the call, he begins making arrangements to have this person brought in to New York City. Meanwhile, Kaine attacks the Johnsmeyer building activating its rooftop defenses. Although he destroys the weapons, his gunshot wound starts bleeding again. As Muse is checking out his wound, she notices that his face is bleeding as well. She convinces him to take off his mask, something Kaine is reluctant to do so because of his cellular degeneration. However, she is not repulsed by his features and feels he has a strong face. That's when Kaine has one of his precognitive flash that shows Muse dead with the Mark of Kaine on her face. This horrifies and enrages Kaine who decides that this all needs to end and rips open the roof of the building to get at James Johnsmeyer. However, before he leaps into the building, Spider-Man stops him with a webbing net. However, this causes them to fall inside the building anyway. There Spider-Man, Muse, and Kaine are being observed by Johnsmeyer and his colleagues who are watching from massive television screens. It's here that Johnsmeyer reveals that Muse has been working from him and manipulating Kaine this whole time. However, Muse has genuinely grown to care for Kaine and renounces her allegiance to James.

Hearing this angers Kaine and he decides that Muse has to die. However, as he approaches the woman, Spider-Man tries to stop him and is knocked aside. However, the wall-crawler convinces Kaine that killing Muse is exactly what Johnsmeyer and the others want. Vowing never to be manipulated again, Kaine decides to spares Muse and trashes the monitor screens. Even though the crisis is over, Spider-Man insists on turning Kaine over to the authorities. However, Kaine refuses to surrender to the wall-crawler. However, Muse blasts the wall-crawler stunning him long enough for her to blow a hole in the side of the building. She apologizes to Kaine for tricking him and admits that she fell in love with him, but it is too late to repair the damage she has done. She then leaps out of the building, prompting Spider-Man to save her with his webbing. This, of course, was all part of Muse's plan to distract Spider-Man long enough for Kaine to make his escape.

The next day, J. Jonah Jameson is informed that his 11 o'clock meeting has arrived and welcomes Peter Parker and his wife Mary Jane.[Continuity 8]

Appearing in "Strangers"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Spider-Man: The Lost Years #1

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  • Truck
  • Ambulance
  • Bike

Synopsis for "Strangers"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Spider-Man: The Lost Years #1

It is 10 pm in the evening just outside of Salt Lake City as traffic pushes along the highway in a heavy rain. Suddenly, a truck driver suffers a heart attack causing him to jackknife his vehicle. However, before oncoming vehicles can slam into the truck, a man leaps out and pushes the truck over the shoulder and down the side of a cliff. Retrieving the driver before the truck crashes, the mystery man then gives the trucker CPR. By the time the authorities arrive on the scene, the trucker is loaded into an ambulance. Asking eyewitnesses, the police learn that the mystery hero left just as soon as he appeared, not sticking around to be congratulated for saving a life. Not far down the high way, this mystery man -- Ben Reilly -- continues down the long road he has been on for the last three years. He felt compelled to save the man due to the spider-sense that rang in his head, despite the fact that he believed that becoming Ben Reilly stipped him of all the past responsibilities that shackled Peter Parker to use his power for good.[Continuity 9]

Meanwhile, in the city, the imperfect Peter Parker clone known as Kaine has tracked Ben Reilly to Salt Lake City. Waiting for his prey to arrive, he sits by himself and nurses a bottle of vodka he purchased in a bar. His peace and quiet is interrupted by a prostitute who offers to show him a good time. However, when he ignores the woman, her pimp tries to start a fight with him. Without saying a word, Kaine quickly grabs the man by the head nad beats his head on the table until he is unconscious. Getting up, Kaine gives the prostitute some money, telling her not to spend it all in one place and begins walking out of the bar. On his way out, he is stopped by a blond haired woman named Louise Kennedy. Impressed by Kaine's show of strength, she asks for his name. Sizing the woman up, the clone tells her that he was never born and therefore never had a name, but she can call him Kaine. As he leaves, Louise is interrupted by Jimmy the Mouth, a local crook who wants to get down to business. Punching the portly criminal in the stomach, she tells him to keep his hands to himself.

The following morning, Louise is lost in thoughts about Kaine as her partner, causing her to lose her train of thought while talking to her partner Jacob Raven. Regaining her composure, she tells him how she has been playing Jimmy the Mouth, so he tells her where they can find the operations of Jimmy's uncle, a drug dealer named Vincent Tannen. Although Louise is certain they can bag Tannen and strike a huge blow to the drug trade in Utah. Raven isn't so optimistic about that given Vincent's influence in Salt Lake City. This upsets him, as he considered these sorts of things happen in other cities like New York or Chicago. Despite how disappointing this is, Jacob has faith that if he does the right thing, he can make a difference. When Lousie chides him for his Mormon upbringing, he shrugs it off, telling her that his motivation is a matter of faith. At that same moment, from his jail cell, Vincent Tannen is sitting pretty comfortably even though he is incarcerated. He is visited by one of the guards who gladly agrees to make arrangements to have someone brutally beaten. While at the local university, Ben Reilly manages to secure a job in the science department thanks to false credentials and a letter of recommendation from Seward Trainer. Although he doesn't feel right about using fraudulent information to get the job, he pushes this thought out of his head, reminding himself that he is qualified to do the work thanks to the implanted memories of Peter Parker that are in his mind. Going to a local diner for breakfast, Ben is instantly smitten by the redhaired waitress, a young woman named Janine Godbe.

While he is placing his order, Jacob Raven comes in to order the usual. Not knowing how Raven was at the time, Ben instantly liked the guy because the officer reminded him of his Uncle Ben. As Raven picks up his food to go, Reilly can't help but notice that Janine is unnerved by the officer's presence.[Continuity 10] Deciding he likes the woman, Ben tells her about how he is new in town and doesn't know anybody and clumsily asks if she would go out with him for dinner. At first, she says no, but when Reilly pays for his meal and heads out, she changes her mind, much to his delight. By this time, Louise Kennedy is working undercover, dropping money off to some drug dealers on behalf of Jimmy the Mouth. However, when she tries to arrest the man, she finds herself surrounded by gunmen. Before they can kill her, Kaine comes crashing in through one of the windows. For some reason, Kaine has been drawn to this woman, prompting him to come to her rescue. Catching the armed drug dealers by surprise, Kaine kills them all before the Lousie's astonished eyes. In the aftermath of the battle, Kennedy asks what they should do next, Kaine tells her that he has a few ideas.

Later that day, Louise's partner Jacob just misses the bus back home and curses himself for being so out of shape. Suddenly, a car pulls up next to him and some armed men forced him inside. While elsewhere, Ben Reilly crashes his motorcycle because his spider-sense goes off warning him of some serious danger. Unable to ignore it, Ben follows the signal to a nearby house that suddenly explodes into flame the moment he arrives. Despite his misgivings, Ben cannot avoid being the hero and leaps inside the burning building to look for survivors. He finds a woman and her child inside the house and quickly carries them outside and disappears before the authorities arrive. Later, at the home of Louise Kennedy, a romantic moment with Kaine is interrupted by a phone call. Louise is upset to hear that her partner has gone missing and his family narrowly avoided getting killed by a bomb that was planted in their home. Disturbed by this, Louise tells Kaine to hold her and never let go. Meanwhile, Ben Reilly listens in on the doctors at the hospital and learns that Raven's wife is going to be okay. No wanting to be the hero anymore, or be in costume, Ben Reilly decides to leave things for the police to handle, unaware that at that very moment the husband of the woman he saved is being held at gunpoint.

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Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "Continuity", but no corresponding <references group="Continuity"/> tag was found

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